Clark Tracey Quintet – ‘Introducing Emily Masser’

This dynamic album introduces vocalist Emily Masser as a new star of British jazz. Her performances are spot-on, the band is tight, the mood is swinging and all is set for a bright future for us all.

Clark Tracey has become a sort of British Art Blakey. A consummate drummer with some fifty years behind the kit, a fearsomely driving style and a reputation for hard work, Tracey has over the years led bands featuring some of the best young talent emerging on the UK scene. The education they receive stays with them as they move on and Tracey looks around again for the next generation. Art Blakey did something similar over the decades with the Jazz Messengers and nurtured some all-time great players and composers, so it’s welcome to see both the young band and the range of material on show here.

The opening A Bitta Bittadose is, fittingly, by former Jazz Messengers MD Bobby Watson. James Owston leads in on double bass with a bluesy introduction (a great start to the album) before the band enters with the tune, swinging mightily with Emily Masser scatting the melody. Alex Clarke follows on alto saxophone in classic style before a harmonised sax/vocal section sets up Masser’s own solo. Masser studies saxophone (alongside singing) at the Guildhall, and the horn-player sensibility shows right away in the pacing and construction of the choruses, pinpoint intonation with some fleet-footed phrasing. Graham Harvey puts in the first of his witty and well-executed piano solos. This track is available now to preview on Clark Tracey’s Bandcamp page – link below.

A Sleepin’ Bee starts with a lovely slow introduction before kicking in at sprightly speed for the chorus; Masser’s vocal is again right on the money, hitting the key high notes with precision and lightly bouncing through Truman Capote’s lyrics. The Man I Love is a standout track, a surprisingly muscular version with plenty of sax and cymbal-bell work in the introduction, before Masser enters dramatically as the band breaks off. Masser produces a smart piece of vocalese updating the sentiment to the 21st century, referring to Tinder and crispy duck takeaway amongst much else – Annie Ross must be looking on delighted. Clarke picks up on tenor sax with a nod to Coleman Hawkins; Tracey also gets a good solo here, with Owston picking up the bass alongside him.

Tom Jobim’s Passarim provides a shift of mood, with Clark Tracey himself providing multi-tracked harmony vocals; a neat flute solo from Clarke follows. Arthur Schwartz and Yip Harburg’s 1934 ballad Then I’ll Be Tired Of You is an under-heard classic, tackled by artists as diverse as Fats Waller, Ella Fitzgerald and John Coltrane; Masser delivers it beautifully before Clarke spreads out on tenor sax – the twist is that she’s now playing A Time For Love from the 1966 movie An American Dream. It’s a lovely combination. Tracey favourite Suddenly Last Tuesday, Jimmy Deuchar’s lightning-fast test piece for Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Couriers, closes the show with Masser picking up the trumpet lines with precision and delight.

I’m sure this isn’t the last we’ll be hearing from Emily Masser and I am eager to discover what might happen next. She will be getting tremendous mentoring from Clark Tracey and at just 20 years of age is a burning talent for the future.